Eyes for electronic pet

ABSTRACT

An eye for electronic pet includes an eyelid, an eyeball, a driving box and a driving source. The eyelid is rotatably attached to the outside surface of the eyeball. The driving box is received in the eyelid to drive the eyelid to rotate along an outside surface of the eyeball. The driving source is received in the eyeball and mounted on the driving box for supplying rotary power for driving box to rotate the eyelid.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to mechanical eyes, and particularly, toa mechanical eye for an electronic pet.

2. Description of the Related Art

Nowadays, electronic pets are becoming popular. Electronic pets arebeing designed with evermore functions that can provide intelligentinteraction with their owners. Life-like interaction with the pets isone of the most important characteristic that attracts the attention andholds the interest of consumers. Because the eyes, of the electronicpet, play an important rule in making the electronic pet seems morelife-like, it is essential that the eyes have life-like movement.However, the eyes of most existing electronic pets cannot blink likethose of their real-life counterparts.

Therefore, the need exist for an eye for an electronic pet that canautomatically blink like those of a real-life counterpart.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic isometric view of an eye for an electronic petaccording to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an isometric exploded view of the eye of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a reversed and isometric exploded view of the eye of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a cutaway view of the eye of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGS. 1-2, an eye 100 for an electronic pet according to anexemplary embodiment is shown. The eye 100 includes an eyelid 110, aneyeball 120, a driving box 130, and a driving source 140. The eyelid 110is rotatably attached to an outside surface of the eyeball 120. Theeyeball 120 defines a receiving room 120 a in which the driving box 130and the driving source 140 are jointly received therein. The driving box130 connects to the eyelid 110 and is capable of driving the eyelid 110to rotate along the outside surface of the eyeball 120, to imbue the eye100 with the ability to blink. The driving source 140 is mounted on thedriving box 130 and configured to supply rotary power to the driving box130 to rotate the eyelid 110. The driving box 130 and the driving source140 collectively construct a driving device to rotate the eyelid 110.

Referring to FIGS. 2-4, the eyelid 110 includes a substantiallyhemispherical shell 112. The shell 112 includes a substantially annularend 112 a and two substantially semicircular protuberances 114symmetrically protruded from the annular end 112 a along the extendingdirection of the spherical surface of the shell 112. Two trunnions 116are separately formed on an inside surface of protuberances 114, andeach trunnion 116 is substantially perpendicular to the correspondingprotuberance 114. At least one trunnion 116 defines a terminal shafthole 118 therein for receiving a driving element.

The eyeball 120 includes an upper carapace 122, and a lower carapace124. A number of locating sets 123 and corresponding number of thelocating columns 125 are respectively formed on the inside walls of thelower and upper carapaces 122, 124. The locating sets 123 and thelocating columns 125 can engage with each other for connecting the uppercarapace 122 to the lower carapace 124.

The upper carapace 122 includes a front shell 122 a and a separate backshell 122 b. Because the front shell 122 a and the back shell 122 b areseparate structures, they can be assembled to the lower carapace 124easily and accurately. The front shell 122 a includes a substantiallyannular edge 122 c, and two concave cutouts 126 formed on the annularedge 122 c corresponding to and receiving the trunnions 116 of theeyelid 110. The back shell 122 b is shaped substantially one-third of asphere, and includes two separate and parallel upper handles 127protruded outward from an outside surface of the back shell 122 b.

The lower carapace 124 includes lower annular end 124 a, and two concavesemicircle openings 129 formed on the lower annular end 124 a andcorresponding to the cutouts 126 formed on the upper carapace 122. Theopenings 129 of the lower carapace 124 and the cutouts 126 of the uppercarapace 122 corporately form two through holes which are used for thetrunnions 116 extending therethrough to connect to the eyelid 110. Twosupporting poles 128 are separately formed on the inner side of thelower carapace 124 and are configured for supporting and fixing thedriving box 130. Corresponding to the upper handles 127 of the uppercarapace 122, two parallel lower handles 121 are separately formed onthe outer side of the lower carapace 124 to assembly with the upperhandles 127 together for constructing a connecting end which isconfigured for connecting the eye to an electronic pet.

The driving box 130 includes a housing 132, a number of middle shafts133, a number of gears 137 and a terminal shaft 134. The housing 132defines a receiving room for receiving the middle shafts 133, the gears137 and the terminal shaft 134. The middle shafts 133 and the terminalshaft 134 are respectively matched with the hub portions of the gears137 and are rotatably mounted in the housing 132, so that the middleshafts 133, the terminal shaft 134 and the gears 137 can rotatesynchronously. One end of the terminal shaft 134 protrudes from thehousing 132 and engages with the terminal shaft hole 118 of the eyelid110 for connecting to the eyelid 110. The housing 132 includes a numberof interconnected side walls 132 a, two locating bumps 135 separatelyformed on an outer sides of the side walls 132 a corresponding to thesupporting poles 128 of the lower carapace 124. Each locating bump 135defines a through hole 136 thereon for a blot 139 passing there throughto fix the driving box 130 in the eyeball 120. A stepped hole 138,communicating with the through hole 136 and having a larger diameterthan the through hole 136, is defined on a side surface of the locatingbump 135 corresponding to the supporting poles 128 of the lower carapace124. The stepped hole 138 is configured for receiving supporting poles128 therein, as a result, when the driving box 130 is fixed on thesupporting poles 128, the inner-side wall of the stepped hole 138 canhold the supporting pole 128 stably to prevent the whole driving box 130from shifting.

The driving source 140 is generally selected from one of a steppingmotor or a piezoelectric motor mounted on the outer surface of side wall132 a of the housing 132 and configured for rotating the terminal shaft134 of the driving box 130 to rotate the eyelid 110, from its originalposition, through a predetermined angle or reversely rotate the eyelid110 to return the eyelid 110 to its original position. The drivingsource 140 can be controlled by a central controller (not shown) tocontrol the rotation time and angle of the eyelid 110.

When the driving source 140 operates, the middle shafts 133 are rotatedby the operating driving source 140, and the gears 137 mounted on themiddle shafts 133 follow the rotation of the middle shafts. Accordingly,the terminal shaft 134 rotates following the rotation of the gears 137,as a result, the eyelid 110 connected to the terminal shaft 134 of thedriving box 130 rotates, following the rotation of terminal shaft 134,first in one direction, then in the opposite direction when the drivingsource reverses itself. In this way, the eyelid 110 can rotate along theeye ball 120 to shade or expose the eye ball and to perform a life-likeblinking action.

It is believed that the present embodiments and their advantages will beunderstood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent thatvarious changes may be made thereto without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention or sacrificing all of its materialadvantages, the examples hereinbefore described merely being preferredor exemplary embodiments of the invention.

1. An eye for an electronic pet comprising: an eyeball; an eyelidrotatably attached to the outside surface of the eyeball; a driving boxreceived in the eyeball and connected to the eyelid, the driving boxbeing configured for driving the eyelid to rotate along the outsidesurface of the eyeball; and a driving source received in the eyeball andmounted on the driving box, the driving source being configured forsupplying rotary power for the driving box to rotate the eyelid.
 2. Theeye of an electronic pet as claimed in claim 1, wherein the eyelidcomprises a hemispherical shell rotatably attached to the outsidesurface of the eyeball, the driving box comprises a terminal shaft whichis connected with the hemispherical shell of the eyelid.
 3. The eye ofan electronic pet as claimed in claim 2, wherein the hemispherical shellcomprises an annular end, and two semicircular protuberancessymmetrically protruding from the annular end along the extensionsurface of the hemispherical shell.
 4. The eye of an electronic pet asclaimed in claim 3, wherein the shell further comprises two trunnionsseparately formed on an inside surface of the protuberances, theterminal shaft of the driving box is connected to one trunnion of theshell.
 5. The eye of an electronic pet as claimed in claim 4, whereineach of the trunnion is substantially perpendicular to the correspondingprotuberance.
 6. The eye of an electronic pet as claimed in claim 4,wherein at least one of the two trunnions defines a terminal shaft holethereon for receiving and fixing the terminal shaft of the driving box.7. The eye of an electronic pet as claimed in claim 4, wherein theeyeball comprises an upper carapace, and a lower carapace, a number oflocating sets and corresponding number of the locating columns areseparately and correspondingly formed on the inside walls of the upperand lower carapace for interlocking with each other to connect the uppercarapace and the lower carapace together.
 8. The eye of an electronicpet as claimed in claim 7, wherein the upper carapace comprises a frontshell and a separated back shell.
 9. The eye of an electronic pet asclaimed in claim 8, wherein the front shell comprises a substantiallyannular edge, and two concave cutouts formed on the annular edgecorresponding to the trunnions of the eyelid.
 10. The eye of anelectronic pet as claimed in claim 8, wherein the back shell is shapedsubstantially one-third of a sphere.
 11. The eye of an electronic pet asclaimed in claim 8, wherein the back shell comprises two separate andparallel upper handles protruding outwardly from the outside surface ofthe back shell.
 12. The eye of an electronic pet as claimed in claim 9,wherein the lower carapace comprises a substantially annular end, andtwo openings are defined on the annular end corresponding to the cutoutsof the upper carapace to corporately form two through holes for thetrunnions extending there through.
 13. The eye of an electronic pet asclaimed in claim 11, wherein two parallel lower handles are separatelyformed on the outer side of the lower carapace, corresponding to theupper handles of the upper carapace.
 14. The eye of an electronic pet asclaimed in claim 7, wherein the lower carapace comprising two supportingpoles separately formed on the inner side of the lower carapace andconfigured for supporting and fixing the driving box.
 15. The eye of anelectronic pet as claimed in claim 14, wherein the driving box furthercomprises a housing, a plurality of middle shafts, and a plurality ofgears, the housing defines a receiving room for receiving the middleshafts, the gears and the terminal shaft, the middle shafts and theterminal shaft are respectively matched with the hub portions of thegears and are rotatably mounted in the housing.
 16. The eye of anelectronic pet as claimed in claim 15, wherein the housing comprises anumber of interconnected side walls, two locating bumps are separatelyform on the outer sides of the side walls corresponding to thesupporting poles of the lower carapace, each locating bump defines athrough hole thereon for a blot passing therethrough to fix the drivingbox in the eyeball.
 17. The eye of an electronic pet as claimed in claim16, wherein a stepped hole is defined on a side surface of the locatingbump corresponding to the supporting poles of the lower carapace forholding the supporting poles of the lower carapace.
 18. An eye for anelectronic pet comprising: a hollow eyeball; an eyelid rotatably mountedon the outer surface of the eyeball; a driving equipment receiving inthe hollow eyeball and connected to the eyelid to rotate the eyelid.